Liquid Pneuma was something Rory had thought about often ever since he'd learned of its existence from the Trial of Space. It was a state of pneuma that Rory had only had small amounts of success with forming. Basic pneuma existed like the atoms in the air, invisible and almost entirely dispersed. Evolving past that was gaseous pneuma, something he utilized from time to time and was most prominent in its usage as the 'starting fuel' for the original Stellar Forge.

Liquid pneuma was leagues more advanced, and depending on whether it was neutral pneuma or aspected, it made handling and harnessing even more difficult.

Of course, that was what Rory was intending to do: to take the concentrated form of renewal-aspect pneuma and energize and condense it into liquid.

For once, the question wasn't of how, just of the magical muscle involved. Truthfully, the problem was the state of the latent pneuma permeating the environment. Even in the city where the pneuma felt thickest, it was still far less dense than anywhere within the volcanic region, the location where he'd managed to manufacture liquid pneuma in the past. If he wanted to recreate that here, he would need some rather robust pneuma crushers; trying to force it purely with his own magical might wouldn't cut it.

Orrrrrr…….

A new idea suddenly sprang up in his mind, a place where the pneuma would likely be thickest, a location that might even rival the volcanic region.

Well, except that it's not a physical location. At least not yet.

The heart of Ehkorrus, the very center of where the pneuma of the city flowered, would likely have a sort of 'field' surrounding it that could match what he needed.

The problem was that after the initial 'installation' of the pneuma heart and the conduits throughout the city, it had metaphysically integrated itself, no longer physically present.

In theory.

While a physical 'heart' may no longer exist, there was a chance he could force it to become physically present through the establishment and connection of a physical location representing all the concepts at play.

"Now, where would be the best place for that? Why am I asking? Anyone who's ever watched a movie knows it's always in some deep underground catacombs."

The problem was that they didn't have a deep underground catacomb.

Yet.

A gleam in his eyes, Rory walked past the traumatized Scourge Mites, arms crossed as he stared at the dirt wall opposite the staircase, from which he'd descended into his basement dungeon.

Lab, damn it, I will not start calling it a dungeon.

"Well, either way… that'll work."

With a map of modern Ehkorrus overlaid and viewed from a secondary mental thread, Rory began the process of tunneling into the earth, made far easier with the use of Seams Unseen, Earth Soul, and the attributes of a high-tier seven. The earth seemed to shift around him, almost as if it were flowing, carving through dozens of feet of earth in seconds.

Easier than expected. At this rate, it should take less than an hour to dig a mile, maybe two or three hours to dig down a few miles, depending on how quickly the earth hardens.

There was one other element easing his ability to shovel through the earth, and that was the fact that for quite some distance, the land was 'recognized' as being a part of Ehkorrus, and as the 'leader' of Ehkorrus, he had the privilege to 'ordain' the construction or tunneling that might occur.

In other words, even if someone else had the same skills as Rory, they'd find the earth pushing back against them rather than freely flowing.

Continuing almost exactly on pace, even as the earth began to harden, heavy with harder rocks and denser pneuma infusion, Rory was still able to carve his way through until, almost two hours on the dot, Rory slammed his shovel into the earth.

Perfect.

Deep beneath Ehkorrus and only reachable from the tunnel he'd carved from his tree basement, Rory had dug a medium-sized room. Within there was, well, nothing, just dirt and rock and a somewhat higher level of innate pneuma saturation, but that wouldn't be the case for long.

"Step one, gotta get the 'mojo' all set."

Recycling the dirt and stone he'd carved through and dumped into his inventory, Rory reshaped them, a flex of his will transforming the material into earthen pillars that he planted through the empty room in a dodecagram.

Next, channels.

Carving channels between the earth pillars, a web of channels soon formed through the floor, which Rory etched runes into. On their own, they would break down, but Rory wasn't intending to give them the chance. Bathing them in a stable flame he conjured, the compact channel walls between pillars were flame-baked.

With the channels laid, Rory then retrieved several monster cores from his inventory, gently placing them within the crest of each person-sized earth obelisk. They weren't doing anything magical yet, but for now, what mattered was the intent and impression, harmonizing reality with concept.

For a moment, Rory considered whether it was worth weaving some blood crystals through the obelisks, but dismissed the thought after a moment. The problem with the blood red crystals he could create was that, in reality, they were nothing more than fancy projections; they lacked a permanence that would be useful.

Grabbing several rods of promethium from his inventory-

What project was I working on that required me to have specifically rods of promethium here? Ehh, I'll remember one day.

-Rory began spearing them into the very center of the room, arranged in a fashion that looked like they were meant to be holding something up, like the claps of a piece of jewelry.

Hmm, nope, still missing something.

Thinking for several more minutes, Rory added several more channels into the ground, this time flowing into the very center and circling the promethium rods almost like a bound circle. Then, almost as an afterthought, Rory snatched a vial of bottled starlight from his inventory, a vial he had grabbed on his way out from returning Astra.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Hey, I run this place, sort of kind of, so I'm allowed to take stuff.

Uncorking it, Rory was about to pour it into the circle surrounding the promethium rods when he had a new idea. Slashing his palm, blood began to quickly drain from him, landing into the bottled starlight as he began to swirl it around, the drops of blood faintly carrying traces of foundational concepts as Rory blasted with his version of essence projection.

After nearly a minute, leaving Rory as tired as if he'd been undertaking laborious effort for an hour straight, Rory nodded to himself before pouring the concoction into the circle. With a flash of light, the liquid flowed outward, racing through the channels as if there was far more of the substance than what he had poured out. Flowing through, they eventually raced up the obelisks before the cores lit up with a dim red and silver glow.

Most importantly, from the very center of the room, it was as if a strong breeze was suddenly gusting outward, as Rory both heard and felt a strong thump beating out.

And then another.

And another.

With each thump, it was as if a ghostly apparition was becoming more and more real by the second, clasped between the rods of promethium in the very center of the room. At the tenth and final thump, the ghostly image in the shape of a highly polished core turned real as Rory received a notification.

Heart of Ehkorrus established.

A secret chamber accessible only by the true leader of the Ehkorrian city. Within lies the physical heart of the city, which can be accessed, interfaced with, and even altered or removed.

"Bingo," Rory said with a relieved sigh. "It worked."

The pneuma within the room was growing denser by the second, radiating out from the tier-eight core that had been transformed into the heart of Ehkorrus so many decades ago.

"Still has work to be done now that the physical location has resonated with the 'concept' of a core room," Rory said, glancing around. "But at least the initial stage has been established."

The simple proximity to the heart of Ehkorrus, which served as the central reserve of the city's pneuma, would eventually elevate the latent pneuma to a high enough density that attempting to capture, condense, and energize it would no longer be a years-long project.

Probably don't want anyone to be able to dig down here easily, but having said that, I get a feeling this location isn't purely a physical one.

Just as the core had been tethered to physical reality, the physical reality of the location had been pulled into a realm not-quite real, where the location existed in an almost in-between state, much like Rory had seen before in places like the Trial of Fire and Ice, which was there yet not there, all at the same time.

Magic.

Not wanting the energies to permeate too far out, Rory finished the entire thing off with an extra-large bound circle, nearly scraping the walls. It wasn't a proper solution, but for the time, it was enough.

"I'll probably have to give Irene and Apostolos a heads-up that I established a physical entrance to the very heart of the city, something that some people might consider a security risk, but I'm sure they'll understand."

But that was a problem for future-Rory to handle. Presently, Rory had a more pressing concern while the core room was saturated.

I really need to restock some supplies.

Anddddd that should do it.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Rory glanced down at his newest creation, a Podao, which was essentially the big brother of a sword but the smaller cousin of a spear, a blade with an extra-long pommel or haft.

"Noisy," Astra said, floating over to peer down after she transformed into her mobile avatar.

"Sorry," Rory apologized. He'd done the forging and crafting process within the confines of Astra's room, one because the presence of the small star naturally uplifted creations by a small but notable degree, but more importantly, it kept him away from peering eyes.

"S'okay," Astra said as she sat herself on his shoulder. "Not very special, though."

"No, it's not," Rory agreed. "But it's something for the time being."

The weapon was of rare grade, but that had more to do with the fact that it used +1 promethium ingots for the blade and a carved shaving from his own home for the haft, rather than being some otherwise overly special blade. During the creation process Rory had utilized his inscription stylus to specifically inlay runes that grabbed on to his blood and lattice affinity, allowing the weapon to act as a conduit in exchange for having no 'other' inscriptions making it a regular weapon to anyone who didn't have a blood or lattice affinity or enough skill with freeform magic to whip them up on the fly.

"Sooo, can we go for a walk?" Astra asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"You know what, I have some things I'd like to show you, but not today," Rory said as the small fairy pouted.

"When then?"

"Well, I told Gil I'd give a demonstration at some point, so maybe a few days from now? I've got to rehash out the details first."

"Okay!" Astra said, yawning before she zipped back over to the center of the room. "I'm going back to sleep then. You'd better keep your promise!"

"But I didn't actually promise anything-oh, she's already sleeping," Rory mumbled, amused at how quickly the little fairy had turned back into her true star body and her awareness had ceased as she'd clonked out.

Leaving the Stellar Forge inner-chamber, Rory was surprised to see not just Gil, but Irene standing outside, her arms crossed.

"Oh, hey Gil, was just going to find you," Rory said, making a point to ignore Irene. "When do you want to do that little demonstration or whatever? I know I disappeared for a few days."

Gil glanced at Irene with a hint of trepidation; the woman was clearly not impressed at being outright ignored, but if there was anyone in the city who could do that without genuine fear, it was either going to be her adopted family of the first generation, Apostolos, or Rory himself.

"Is three days from now alright?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Rory said as Irene finally cleared her throat.

"Gil, would you mind giving me and the Lord Founder a moment?"

Uh oh, Lord Founder, that means I'm in trouble for something.

"Yeah, guess so, see you later, 'Reen. Uh, see you in a few days, Mr. Rory."

As the short and stout dwarf walked away, Rory was left as the target of Irene's attention.

"So… what exactly is a 'Core Chamber,' and why did I suddenly receive a notification of it a few hours ago?"

"Oh, that," Rory said, feeling relieved. "Dug a tunnel, made a room."

"Dug a tunnel, made a room." Irene pinched the bridge of her nose. "I physically came to find you because the details surrounding it sound rather important, and that's how you describe what happened?"

"What? I needed it for a project." Rory said honestly.

"Oh dear E.O.N. above, what sort of project is important enough to create such a vital vulnerability!" Irene said, her whisper louder, speaking volumes louder than any shout could be.

"You want better walls or not?" Rory asked, deciding to return her glare with one of his own, crossing his arms. "Counter to what people seem to assume, I don't have a magic wand that I wave, and boom presto, things are automatically crafted of the highest quality. It takes time, effort, and resources. I need access to liquid pneuma, and not just any neutral pneuma, but I need to take the renewal aspect of Ehkorrus and concentrate it into a liquid form. Doing that would take a pretty damn long time with how unconcentrated and airy the pneuma is here. By establishing a Core room, the pneuma that gathers there is of high enough density that I should be able to actually succeed in making some liquid pneuma. Does it leave a vulnerability? Sure, but it's something only I have regular access to. Not just that, now that there is a physical Core area rather than just a stat on an interface, hands-on work will be possible rather than left to chance or random evolution. Eon is useful, trust me; I, of all people, understand that. However, handing the reins over to Eon to automatically operate will only result in inferior performance in the long run. So, are you happy?"

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Rory was honestly surprised by just how much of a rant he had gone on, and clearly, he wasn't the only one. Irene blinked several times as she registered everything he'd just said.

"I apologize," Irene finally said after a moment. "It was just a rather pressing notification I had received, making it clear it wasn't something minor."

"Well, I will show it to you and Apostolos later, but for now, I'm going."

"Where?"

With another huff of annoyance, this time directed at himself, Rory grumbled out a response.

"I've got about a billion and one gems I need to restock up on."

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